Due to a lack of staff, it would take at least six months to identify chromium 6 polluters and up to five years to clean polluted sites, state water regulators said. "Our ability to do more is limited to our staff availability," said Dennis Dickerson, executive director of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, during a hearing Thursday in Camarillo.
There are only two workers to investigate hundreds of suspected chromium 6 polluters in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, water officials said.
The regional water board, which is one of nine statewide, has the authority under state law to require chromium 6 testing and order its removal.
More funding from the state Water Resources Control Board, which sets the budgets for the regional panels, is needed for additional investigators, officials said.
The six-member Los Angeles board also voted unanimously to hold a special meeting Nov. 13 of state and local regulators to discuss strategies for addressing the chromium 6 problem.
Recommended for you
The Los Angeles board has focused its efforts recently in the east San Fernando Valley, which was named a federal Superfund cleanup site in 1986 after industrial contamination was found.
Water board staffers in the next few weeks will begin inspecting 210 potential chromium polluters in the Superfund area, said Arthur Heath, the panel's environmental program manager for toxic cleanups.
Chromium 6 has been suspected of causing cancer in several high-profile lawsuits. In a 1996 case made famous by the Julia Roberts film "Erin Brockovich," residents of the San Bernardino town of Hinkley won a $333 million settlement from Pacific Gas & Electric because the company's underground tanks leaked chromium 6 into ground water.
Gov. Gray Davis signed legislation last week that gives the state Department of Health Services until January 2002 to determine the threat of chromium 6 throughout the state and to issue a report to the governor and Legislature.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.